Vasectomy Services in North Kirklees

NHS North Kirklees CCG is currently undertaking a competitive dialogue procurement process for the community service contract in Kirklees, as the current contract is due to expire at the end of September 2015.There are a number of services that are currently provided within the current community service contract that will not be in scope of the new contract. Instead, alternative arrangements are being developed for these services. One of these services is the vasectomy service. The service is currently provided from Dewsbury Health Centre, to meet the needs of approximately one hundred and ten men per year. We are proposing that we look to buy these services via a route that would mean that when patients are referred for a particular service they will be able to choose from a list of qualified providers who meet NHS requirements for service quality and cost (Any Qualified Provider). The service specification that we are developing reflects the provision of a community based service, which is specialist led. This is in line with approaches taken by other CCGs locally and this will continue to support provision of a service closer to home.

As part of this process we reviewed the service and sought the view of individuals, families and carers, clinicians, other health providers and voluntary groups to help inform our decisions about future provision. The engagement took place during March 2015, due to the limited timescales and the sensitivities around this topic, as expected, the response rate was low. However the report does provide a snapshot of views of both users of the service and providers. The report can be found here.